This invention relates to jigs for woodworking, and particularly to a coping jig that facilitates and simplifies the hand forming of the abutting corners of crown molding.
Crown moldings are typically used along the junctions of walls and ceilings to provide a decorative feature and also to cover the junction. Crown moldings have three flat rear surfaces, one of which is mounted against the ceiling, one of which is mounted against the wall, and the third of which is at 45.degree. to the other two. When two pieces of crown molding are to be fitted at a corner, a mitered joint is not generally used because of the difficulty of making precise mitered cuts and the unlikelihood that the two walls are exactly 90.degree. to each other. Instead, carpenters will typically extend one of the crown molding pieces flush to the abutting wall and fit the other intersecting crown molding piece to the face profile of the first. The second piece must be provided with a carefully crafted end to match the face profile of the first piece.
Previously, the hand-fitted end of the intersecting crown molding piece has been formed by first providing a rough cut at a 45.degree. angle across the face of the crown molding and then laying the crown molding with its 45.degree. back surface flat on the horizontal surface of a table or other support. Then the end is hand-finished using a coping saw. This process requires considerable trial and error and forces the carpenter to work at awkward angles to the workpiece in order to achieve the desired result.
I have developed a jig that mounts and holds a piece of crown molding in a proper attitude so that the hand coping is greatly simplified and the trial and error necessary to achieve the desired fit is greatly reduced or eliminated entirely.